


History’s Highest Stage

by orphan_account



Series: Tales from the Cape [1]
Category: Big Bang Theory RPF, The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, NASA
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 06:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	History’s Highest Stage

**June 27,1996**

**3:50 AM**

**Titusville,Florida**

The dream always began the same way,no matter how many times he’d had it. It wasn’t going to be any different now.

_Discovery sits on pad 39A,glowing in the searchlights. The main engines are swathed in vapor,as they always are. It is early evening,fading into darkness. The crescent Moon shines through a thin patina of clouds. It is T-2 hours,25 minutes,and counting._

_Beside me Mark Worthington stands,his face a temple to awe. This is his first launch,and my fourth. Ron Kennedy,since retired,is our payload commander. The tall black Marylander will be supervising the ATLAS-3 atmospheric science payload. On his spacesuit,on all our spacesuits,is the white STS-64 mission roundel. To his right,as she will be on the flight deck,is Catherine Millstone. She is the Flight Engineer,responsible for monitoring Discovery’s systems during ascent and entry. Steven Woods,Mike Foale,and Eric Gablehauser,our three mission specialists,round out the crew._

_We board the elevator and ascend to the 195-foot level,rubbing shoulders in the growing darkness. We’ve already recited Shepard’s Prayer,in the Astrovan on the way to the pad. After a few minutes the elevator stops and we get out,onto the crew access arm. It is early spring of last year,the beginning of April. The air is less moist than it usually is,and moths are clustering about the ET intertank 50 feet below us. Far in the distance are all sorts of lights. Campers with tourists,come 100 miles or more to see the latest Shuttle launch. The press site bleachers,full of the usual reporter crowd. The VAB and Launch Control Center,illuminated by floodlights. You can see 25 miles from here,a relic of the Apollo days._

_I turn reluctantly from the grand view and proceed into the White Room. Catherine is getting her egress harness adjusted by one of the pad rats. She’s really cute with that patina of sweat on her forehead,and her dusky blonde hair shining in the overhead lights,but I refrain from telling her so. Together,we enter Discovery._

_The routines of the countdown proceed just like always._


End file.
